First AG brew

[m_rawdin]

So I did my first batch last night and there are definitely some lessons learned. Firstly my pump is far too powerful to use with the fly sparge so I think I’m going to have to sparge a different way, it blew the end cap off the arm. I also didn’t account enough for dead space so ended up with just under 20 litres at the end which should have been 23 litres. Also the OG was way off, possibly due to the sparging so I’m not sure how nice this batch is going to turn out! Apart from that it was good as a learning exercise and there are a few changes I am going to make such as using camlocks on all of the connections.

[jubby]

If your mash temp and ph were in the ballpark, I'm sure it will turn out fine. As for your pump, if you tee off from the pump output and return this to the mash tun with another tap/pipe, it will sort the high pressure problem by recirculating.

[m_rawdin]

Also the bottom of the HLT and kettle were black, I have gas burners, is that normal?

[orlando]

Is it a magnetic coupled pump, if so you can throttle back using a ball valve just before the sparge arm?

[m_rawdin]

It's not a magnetic coupled pump, could I still use a ball valve? Would using the tap on the HLT to control the inflow into the sparge?

[IronBlue]

Well done on your first brew, I'm sure the beer will be fine. Welcome to the addiction.

If the bottom of your pots were black with carbon then you have too much yellow flame in your burner flame which should be mostly blue. This is adjusted with the venturi air intake, which may be partially blocked or more likely just need adjusting. Not sure what burner you have, but near where the gas line connects to the burner there will be an air intake, and normally some form of metal cover than can be slid in and out or rotated. (Like a big Bunsen burner) If you light the burner and adjust the amount of air intake you can tune the flame to get the most blue flame you can.

The challenge now is not buying a second fermenter so can you get straight on with another brew....

[m_rawdin]

Yeah there is a metal cylinder near the tap for the burner, I'll have a play with that. If I was to put a ball valve on the outflow for the sparge would I need to do the same for the outflow from the mash tun to the kettle so it isn't drawing off too much liquid? I already have a second fermenter actually

[Piscator]

I already have a second fermenter actually

The bug has bitten

[orlando]

It's not a magnetic coupled pump, could I still use a ball valve? Would using the tap on the HLT to control the inflow into the sparge?

Sorry can't answer that only ever used the others, someone will have experience of yours I'm sure, what is it?

[darkonnis]

So I did my first batch last night and there are definitely some lessons learned. Firstly my pump is far too powerful to use with the fly sparge so I think I’m going to have to sparge a different way, it blew the end cap off the arm. I also didn't account enough for dead space so ended up with just under 20 litres at the end which should have been 23 litres. Also the OG was way off, possibly due to the sparging so I'm not sure how nice this batch is going to turn out! Apart from that it was good as a learning exercise and there are a few changes I am going to make such as using camlocks on all of the connections.

Good stuff, I'm sure it'll be fine its a lot more forgiving than you give it credit
1. For your pump, if its vastly too powerful then your best option is to T the output and put a ball valve on each end of the T. One will be your forward flow, the other you need to connect back to the pump input (with another T). This will let you balance the forward flow to get what you want, the rest will just get fed back to the pump. Obviously, don't have both valves closed. You won't destroy your pump straight away but it won't take long if you were to accidentally shut both valves.

2. Dead space is experience unfortunately, not to worry, now you know.

3. OG is also experience as you have no idea how much heat you'll lose, or how efficient your kit is or you are and how well you sparge. Despite what you may have read, fly sparging is not any better than batch sparging on the small scale, you find larger rigs use it because batch sparging means you need a bit of room in the vessel, as you can imagine going bigger and bigger gets prohibitively expensive and it takes time to pump all that liquor about. Just batch sparge if you start struggling, more important to make sure you raise the bed temperature (when batch sparging just take a giant paddle/spoon spatula and mix it) to mash out, than it is to use either method.

[m_rawdin]

I went to a brew day recently at my local brew dog and picked up some great tips and advice. I'm going to batch sparge from now on as I had similar advice that on small scale it really doesn't make much difference

[alix101]

Congratulations. ..first of many I'm sure ...if you want to make good beer then batch sparging is perfect as is fly sparging some people like the process and connection with a fly sparge , and you will get better efficency.
But batch sparging works just fine , but don't rule out a future fly sparge batch.